On Monday, February 3, 2020, in Dallas, Texas, RCMA celebrated at its Annual Gala!  The event was held in conjunction with the International Roofing Expo! Over 80 members enjoyed great food, music  and networking throughout the evening!

The RCMA  honored those who have made an impact in the roof coating s  industry with the Martin A. Davis Award, the James "Tim" Nelligan Industry Statesman Award and the Emerging Leader Award  followed by  the  induction of  new board members  and officers ! Reid Ribble, NRCA CEO also spoke to the group and shared his vision for roofing and the important issues on the horizon for the roofing industry.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

A meeting with Rep. Anthony Gonzales during the NRCA Roofing Day Fly-in to discuss our concerns with Method 24 was suggested on the last GAC monthly call. Staff will attempt to schedule a meeting between Method 24 Task Force members and Rep. Gonzales.

 

RCMA continues to encourage all ASTM members to vote with comments, regardless of a vote of affirmative or negative.

 

RCMA Staff and members participated on an ACA/CARB conference call discussion about adding an additional category requested by a company for solar coating. CARB indicated that in the spring of 2020 they will add a new category and limits: three year sunset date and volume limits. Initial concerns from stakeholders were voiced that there would be a "backsliding" issue and that CARB might potentially reduce VOC limits in other categories to make up the difference. CARB indicated that they did not intend to open the SCM for any reason other than to add the new category and assured call participants that they would not be changing any other limits in the SCM.

 

RCMA Staff continues to forward updates from the ACA VOC notification service as received. Additional information related to the PCBTF advocacy group has been and forwarded to GAC-members. We will be reaching out to NRCA and SPRI to suggest they offer support for leaving the current PCBTF exemption in place.

 

Participants on the last GAC monthly call discussed a previous advocacy position regarding thermoplastics inclusion in OTC but not in SCAQMD be reintroduced to SCAQMD in light of the addition of the solar category within the 2019 CARB SCM. Further discussion is expected on the next call.

 

The group on the last monthly GAC call also discussed retention of a California lobbyist to address stakeholder concerns. It was agreed that retaining a lobbyist would be in the best interest of the association and its members. It was noted that RCMA may be able to partner with other organizations to defray cost. Staff is investigating cost implications.

Technical Affairs Committee Updates 

By Chadwick Collins, Technical Director

Codes & Standards Task Force

The ballot for D6083 had a negative that was found persuasive at the December ASTM meetings, so we are working on drafting a new ballot to address the issue raised in the ballot.  That ballot will be submitted to ASTM and staff will notify members when the ballot goes live.  In addition, a new standard for Cold Applied Coat Tar for Roofing, Waterproofing, and Dampproofing was balloted. The closing report for that standard lists two negatives submitted.  As with all ballots, RCMA staff encourages all ASTM members with member companies to submit votes and, when possible, include comments regardless of voting in support, abstaining, or against an item.  Comments are valuable when a task group discusses a ballot during committee week.

 

The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) is close to completing the research study evaluating field samples in regard to determining what action, if any, should be taken in the assessment of a product in relation to application to a rough substrate.  The working group held a call in January and is confident that the study will support a suggested protocol for the group to present to the Technical Committee in May and, if successful, to the Board of Directors in June.  Staff is working with CRRC to develop a solution to this issue. 

 

The California Statewide Utility Codes and Standards Team is hosting a second series of webinars over March and April to build on the webinars held in the fall and the feedback collected from them.  Pertinent to RCMA, the Nonresidential Envelope Part 1 webinar is set for Tuesday, March 10, 2020 from 11:30AM to 2:30PM Eastern time, the Single Family Whole Building webinar is set for Thursday, March 5, 2020 from 11:30AM to 1:30PM Eastern time, and the Multifamily HVAC and Envelope webinar is Thursday, March 26, 2020 from 11:30AM to 3:30PM.  Staff will attend all three and will pass information from these along to members.

 

A letter will be submitted to the California Energy Commission to address the current value listed for elongation for the table applicable to roof coatings (a value of 200%) and request its change to 100% to align with the values in the ASTM specification standards for the applicable coatings.

 

Contractor Training Program

The TAC reviewed the final draft of the Contractor Training document.  The next step will be to have the Board approve the document.  In parallel, staff will share the RCMA presentation template to the task group to begin to develop a slide deck using the information in the document.